Europe's journey to discover Mars has begun. The ExoMars 2016 mission, born from the collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian agency Roscosmos, was launched on Tuesday morning from the Russian base of Baikonur, in Kazakhstan. The protagonist is the Proton rocket, 53 meters high, which carries with it the first European probe directed towards the Red Planet.
In the late Italian evening it will be known if the separation between the rocket and the spacecraft was successful and if the probe has actually begun its seven-month journey to Mars. Meanwhile, a few minutes after the launch, Proton took the probe out of the Earth's atmosphere.
Pride and satisfaction for our country, which covers three important roles in the company: first financier, technical-scientific leader and industrial leader with Thales Alenia Space, of the Finmeccanica group.
“ExoMars is the Europe we like. And Italy of which we are proud”. So on Twitter the Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi.
“Today at 10.31 – Renzi later wrote in his enews – Europe left for Mars with the Exomars mission. We are very proud of this Europe and it is no coincidence that Italy has played a key role in achieving this goal, through the Italian Space Agency and our companies. Italy is much stronger and more innovative than it is told. But the Europe that is leaving for Mars must not make us forget what is happening every day in various parts of the continent, from Calais to Idomeni, in Greece”, concluded the Premier, referring to the migrant emergency.
